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I don't necessarily think it's always the farrier's fault... my horse is very busy. Always moving, turning around, walking back and forth, getting into something. The farrier I use is great. Very precise and accurate. But because of how busy my guy is, he has lost both hind shoes once in the past 2 months. He just hooks them onto things like rubber mats or whatever.

I know of someone that swore by putting bell boots on her horse at all times. She said once she did that her horse didn't pull shoes as often anymore. I don't know if that would work, but she absolutely believed it helped.

Really odd question, but is he turned out with any other horses?? My horse's shoes were getting sprung because the obnoxious 3 year old he was turned out with kept stepping on them. Yes he would get that up close to him and in his way. I put hind bell boots on for turn out and that helped. I eventually moved him to a different turnout group and it stopped happening.

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Always the same shoe? Which branch of the shoe is sprung? Is the shoe fit full or have heel extensions? Is the horse stalled or outside when the shoe is sprung? How far into the shoeing cycle is your horse when the incident occurs? Are the shoes new or a reset? If a reset, how many times has the shoe been reset?

At this point in time, 'amastrike's' advice is, IMNTBCHO, both wrong and bad.

This is the third time it's happened. How many times does it take you to fix a problem?

Depends on what the problem is and what, if anything, has already been tried. At this point there is not enough information to make the 'rush to judgement' that you have made. Even the questions I posed aren't complete, just a place to start the conversation. Your advice remains ill advised, short sighted and wrong, but typical of today's average non-horseman horse owner.

It DOES really matter how they're pulling the shoe off. For example, we have three horses that have all had problems keeping one specific shoe on.

After observing all of them, horse A pulls shoes by kicking the wall at feeding time (remedied by moving the witchy mare to an isolation stall, that she much enjoys), horse B is base narrow and interferes behind (remedied over time by many adjustments to feet and way of going), and horse C...the goofy one...pulls them off when she climbs in and out of her water tank on hot days (remedied by raising the water tank to make more difficult and less appealing). The 20 some-odd other horses keep their shoes on quite well, and I would have been foolish to blame any of those situations on the farrier.

It DOES really matter how they're pulling the shoe off. For example, we have three horses that have all had problems keeping one specific shoe on.

Horses don't like to share. I would throw that damned shoe away and give each horse their own personal shoe.

After observing all of them, horse A pulls shoes by kicking the wall at feeding time (remedied by moving the witchy mare to an isolation stall, that she much enjoys), horse B is base narrow and interferes behind (remedied over time by many adjustments to feet and way of going), and horse C...the goofy one...pulls them off when she climbs in and out of her water tank on hot days (remedied by raising the water tank to make more difficult and less appealing). The 20 some-odd other horses keep their shoes on quite well, and I would have been foolish to blame any of those situations on the farrier.

From personal experience I would second the keratex gel, and add a good hoof supplement. If his feet are having a problem holding nails those two together did wonders for my shoe puller. I also kept him in bell boots 24/7 for a few months until his hoof had time to strengthen. But as they say, YMMV.

"Here? It's like asking a bunch of rednecks which is better--Ford or Chevy?" ~Deltawave

What kind of fences do you have? I've seen horses take shoes off (although partially off could also happen) on those diamond mesh fences that go right down to the ground. Is he out with a group of fractious horses? Possible getting a hoof stuck in the belly band of his blanket?

I kept rubber bell boots on one horse I leased pretty much 24/7/365 because he would always pull the right front off about 10 days before the farrier was due. Worked well--shoe-removal rate went down to maybe once a year vs. 5-6 times a year. He had wedge shoes with pour-in pads and was very short-coupled and Gumby-like.

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